<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>What Didn't Happen En Route by Roanoke_Wilde</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25115014">What Didn't Happen En Route</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Roanoke_Wilde/pseuds/Roanoke_Wilde'>Roanoke_Wilde</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types, The Mandalorian (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>AU, Family, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Grogu - Freeform, Humor, Mando is tired and he deserves some sleep poor guy, Missing Scenes, Not Season 1 compliant, Not Season 2 Compliant, The Author Regrets Nothing, The Child - Freeform, This is the Way but..., the helmet comes off</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 08:14:42</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,930</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25115014</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Roanoke_Wilde/pseuds/Roanoke_Wilde</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A restless Cara Dune goes creeping through the Razor Crest en route to its next stop, unaware - until it's too late, of course - that the Child is up to his own shenanigans while Din catches up on some much-needed sleep.</p><p>She had no idea the kid could control his powers so precisely, though...and who knew that it was even possible for a battle-hardened warrior to sleep so soundly?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>60</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>What Didn't Happen En Route</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Cara didn't mean to.</p><p>She honestly didn't.</p><p>But the ship had been dead quiet for nearly an hour, and she was restless. More than that, she was beginning to get worried.</p><p>Surviving for as long as she did as a shocktrooper, traveling with the Mandalorian for even a short time, looking over her shoulder at every turn for the end of the blaster that was to end her life—she couldn't afford to rest easy. So, she didn't.</p><p>She stood from the pilot's chair and stretched, long and easy, loosening her muscles after the numb hour she had spent watching stars and moons spin away from the <em>Razor Crest</em>. She paused for a moment more, straining to hear any sign of life throughout the small ship, but she heard nothing.</p><p>With a dull resignation to whatever fate awaited, Cara hardened her expression and soft-footed her way to the hatch, which was still open after Din's departure earlier. She paused once more at its mouth and listened, just in case she had missed any sounds of life earlier. More silence.</p><p>She made her way down the rungs, putting her years of training and stealth experience to use on the off-chance that Mando and the baby were asleep.</p><p>They'd gone hard the day before, and the day before that. Din had pretty much taken out an entire platoon of Imps on his own when they attempted to ambush the <em>Razor Crest </em>upon landing the previous morning. They had left the planet with haste and made it two planets over before another bounty ship lifted off from somewhere behind them and set up in pursuit. Fast-forward a day later, and they appeared to be in the clear, albeit with a few repairs to make and plans to hatch.</p><p>So, really, she couldn't blame even the Mandalorian if he decided to take a nap before their next stop-point. The infant was bound to follow suit, knowing those two.</p><p>Cara made her way through the tight maze of corridors and side-doors—most of which likely led to a tempting closet full of rare weapons—until she reached the turn-off to what she assumed was the core of the ship. It was a slightly more spacious area that could sit maybe three people and from which pretty much every corner of the ship could be accessed. It had a table, presumably for taking all the meals she had never seen the Mandalorian eat, and a sorry excuse for a couch beside that.</p><p>She could hear a faint, intermittent rumbling sound now, but it could have just as easily been the ship as anything else. She had no idea how old the thing was anyway, or what kind of shape the interior was in. She only knew that Din didn't seem to be the guy who was innately concerned with keeping house.</p><p>Another few steps and there it was.</p><p>Her first reaction was <em>who the kriff is that? </em>and the unconscious reaching of her hand for the blaster on her hip.</p><p>Her second reaction, the one that was informed more by reason and experience than instinct, was a mixture of confusion, uncertainty, and no small amount of internal cringing. Maybe a few curses as the reality of what she was seeing hit home.</p><p>Because there sat the Mandalorian, slumped against the wall. With his helmet moving painstakingly up and off his head. With little green baby sitting beside him, eyes squeezed shut, tri-fingered hands raised in uninformed and totally innocent betrayal.</p><p>Cara had to bite the inside of her cheek-hard-to keep from yelling at the infant that <em>no, that was not the way, remember? </em>But there was no way she could interrupt this and risk and even greater breach on the honor and livelihood of her friend.</p><p>She knew Mando was either in the deepest sleep of his life or dead, given how absolutely still he was and how very oblivious he was to the forbidden exposure. Judging by the conspicuous absence of damage to his Beskar and the rambling snore that came out of his mouth after a few seconds, she guessed the former. She stood there, staring at the baby, mostly, heart pounding in a way that seemed excessively frantic to her considering all the much more disturbing things she'd been exposed to over the course of her life-</p><p>And then her own nature got the better of her. She was beholding, with no small amount of guilt, an extremely rare and extremely forbidden sight. And she couldn't help but be both amused and surprised at what Mando looked like and the sudden way in which he had been revealed.</p><p>He was a lot scrawnier than she had imagined him, with dark messy hair that was plastered quite unbecomingly across his forehead. His features were rounded in a boyish way, slumped in an exhausted relaxation she could understand all too well. In sleep, at least, he looked nothing like the battle-hardened warrior he was.</p><p>He looked simple and innocent—almost childlike in the way his head was cocked, his mouth open in quiet snores.</p><p>Not to mention she found it tentatively hilarious that his helmet was removed not by an enemy but by probably the cutest thing either one of them had seen in their life (though neither one of them would admit that easily). There were worse ways for this to happen-that was for sure.</p><p>Cara snapped back into reality and averted her eyes quickly, becoming aware that every second she spent looking at him was another second of betrayal to his creed and his honor. She couldn't do that to her friend...but then again, she couldn't really stop slam the helmet back on his head and forget this had ever happened, could she?</p><p>And what <em>was </em>the baby doing?</p><p>Heart beginning to slow from a gallop to a nervous trot, Cara focused all of her attention on the creature that had been the cause of so much chaos for the past few months.</p><p>He continued raising the helmet off of Din's head until it was completely clear of his hair and then he stopped, still shaking. She was still amazed at how soundly the Mandalorian was sleeping. Slowly, the little thing opened his eyes and peered at his handiwork. The helmet hovered unsteadily, a threat.</p><p>Cara knew she couldn't risk making a sound or letting the baby see her. If Din woke up, there was no telling what might happen. He had told her, back on Sorgan, that to be seen by another living creature without his helmet on would result in a kind of permanent disgrace. He'd never be 'worthy' enough to put the helmet back on-granted, she wasn't entirely sure why that would be such a horrible thing. It had to be a ridiculously stuffy piece of crap, and it no doubt prevented him from doing a lot of things he probably wanted to (like settling down with Omera, for instance). <em>But</em>, all of that aside, she respected that this was 'the Way' and that it meant more than she knew to him.</p><p>As such, she resisted the urge to leave and risk startling the Child, sucking in a breath and holding it, willing herself to be utterly still.</p><p>The kid stared at Din's face for what seemed an eternity before even moving after finally suspending the helmet in the air. Very slowly, he opened his tiny mouth in what could only be the rough imitation of a grin. And then he made the first non-squeak, non-coo sound she had heard him utter yet: "Man-do."</p><p>For a brief second, Cara was afraid that the soft and frankly <em>kriffin' adorable</em> whisper of a word would wake Din, but the man didn't even stir.</p><p>The infant, with that small and awkward smile still in place, then began to lower the helmet once more. Cara watched in stunned fascination as he did so, fighting to keep her eyes off of Din's face while also battling the rising wave of hysterical laughter in her throat.</p><p>Some things may not be meant to seen, but that didn't mean it couldn't be super wholesome if those things <em>were </em>seen.</p><p>When the helmet had settled by some miracle or touch of fate over Din's head without his waking up, Cara released her pent-up breath. The child must have heard her because he turned to face her completely, his little wrinkled face awash with exhaustion, his tiny form trembling with the force of whatever energy it had taken to so precisely control the helmet.</p><p>Cara offered him a weak grin.</p><p><em>His</em> grin was gone now, but after a moment of searching her face, he waddled to Din's hand and cooed.</p><p>Cara left before the Mandalorian could wake up and wonder why she was staring at him from the corridor.</p>
<hr/><p>Another half hour passed in a much more interesting silence than before.</p><p>Cara reclined in the pilot's seat, absently passing the loose ball from Mando's control stick back and forth between her hands. She kept thinking back to Din's peaceful face-it was nice despite the circumstances to have a more solid image of her friend-and to the presumed why behind the Child's actions. Had he just wanted a face to the figure who was sacrificing so much on his behalf? Surely he didn't understand the gravity of what had happened. Had he tried before, when Mando was awake, and been rejected harshly enough that it had only fanned his curiosity rather than dim it?</p><p>But most of all, how could she just let this go? Din's oath had been broken, the honor of his Tribe violated, and he wasn't even remotely aware of the fact. Would it be better for her to pretend it never happened and thus spare him the pain and loss of the creed he had sworn to so entirely, or would it be be better for her to break the news to him-let him retain at least the dignity of knowing the truth?</p><p>Cara blew out a breath and raised her eyebrows, propped her feet on the control console. She stared without seeing into the dense blackness of space and watched as bits of asteroid and space-clutter wafted dumbly by the window.</p><p>"Alright, Mando," she murmured after a few minutes of considering her course of action, though she knew as soon as she spoke that she could have never chosen to do anything else. "Your secret's safe with me."</p><p>She had never seen Din's face.</p><p>The Child had never seen his face.</p><p>As far as all three of them were concerned, the revelation had never happened. Din was as much of a Mandalorian in her mind as he ever had been and ever would be-probably more of one at heart than a majority of others who claimed to follow the creed, if her understanding of the Way was in any way accurate.</p><p>Cara leaned back and laced her hands behind her head, a grin on her face. All was well.</p><p>When she returned a few minutes later to the place where the event had <em>not </em>taken place, Din hadn't moved, and he was still snoring as if his life depended on it.</p><p>But this time, the kid wasn't off to his side.</p><p>The baby had curled up in the crook of Mando's arm and his side and was fast asleep, head lolling on his own chest, ears drooping in defeat around his face.</p><p>He, too, appeared to be snoring, and Cara could have sworn he looked ten times more innocent than he ever had before.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>So...how'd you like it? XD</p><p>I've had this up on Fanfiction.net for a while, so I thought I'd share it here and see if anyone else could use some good ole Mando and Baby Yoda fluff. Just...maybe don't think too hard about the unhelmeting and all. That isn't the Way after all, but...it's fine. Everything is fine. No one is obsessed here or anything. O_o</p><p>Anyway, thanks for stopping by! I'll look forward to getting any feedback you feel moved to leave. Please know that you are loved, you are appreciated, and you are awesome just for surviving these crazy times and this crazy world. I'm praying for y'all! ;)</p><p>-Roanoke<br/>(Isaiah 25:1-3)</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>